As the trade war between the United States and China escalates, companies are beginning to look for a safe alternative from the economic tussle in other countries. Apple is reportedly planning to invest $1 billion to expand a factory in southern India, where Foxconn, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer assembles iphones for Apple.

A source told Reuters that “there is a strong request from Apple to its clients to move part of the iphone production out of China.” According to the source, Foxconn’s planned investment in the Sriperumbur plant, where Apple’s iphone XR is made some 50 km west of Chennai, will take place over the course of three years.

Foxconn is expected to add some 6,000 jobs at the Sriperumbur plant in Tamil Nadu state under the plan, according to one of the two sources who spoke Reuters on anonymity.

Taipen-based Foxconn also makes smartphones for China’s Xiaomi Corp, where it operates a separate plant in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

India is becoming a darling destination for manufacturers of mobile phone not only because of the US and China trade conflict, but because it offers cheap production cost with a large demographic of consumers.

Apple accounts for about 1% of smartphones sales in India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market. But the cost of iphones, which is induced by taxes and shipment costs from China, has made Apple devices sacred in India.

Foxconn believes that moving production to India will ease the cost of Apple products and enable more sales. Neil Shah of Hong Kong-based tech researcher Counterpoint said the move will not only make Apple iphones cheaper, it will help the company to export from India.

“With India’s labor cheaper compared with China, and the gradual expansion of its supplier base here, Apple will be able to use the country as an export hub,” he said.

India’s Prime Minister Narenda Modi has been on a “make in India” campaign as part of his efforts to encourage electronics manufacturing in the country.

Last month, India launched a $6.65 billion plan that offers incentives to smartphones makers to establish in the country. The likes of Foxconn and other electronics companies moving to establish plants in India seems to be the best kind of news to the Prime Minister as it would create jobs to upset the country’s employment deficit.

It is becoming a global movement as the call to boycott China increases. The reasons have been piling up, victimizing not only companies of Chinese origin, but others with manufacturing plants in China.

Apart from its trade war with the US, China has been caught up in other controversies that are likely to jeopardize its economic growth, as many nations are now
Playing cautiously in their relationship with the South Asian country.

The boycott movement has been driven by factors bordering on political conflicts, the trade war, 5G infrastructure security concerns and COVID-19 pandemic.

The recent annexation of Hong Kong has aggravated the situation, making many other countries part of the controversy.

The Sino-India border tension came lately to escalate China’s political controversies to involve India. The border conflict between the two countries claimed no fewer than 20 Indian soldiers’ lives. Indian is seeking retaliation through economic retribution involving shunning Chinese goods and services, including tech and social media companies like TikTok.

COVID-19 outbreak also created a dysfunction that has impacted Chinese global supply chain and disrupted its economy. China is no longer a low wage, low regulation emerging economy. The labor cost in China has risen significantly, shifting the attention of companies looking for cheap labor to India and some other Asian countries.

Samsung ended its Chinese mobile phone production in September 2019 due to rising cost of labor, opening the way for other companies to seek refuge outside China.

Apart from having India as a destination, Apple is also considering a move to Vietnam where it intends to set a hardware production plant. A trial in Vietnam is reportedly selected to commence later in the year.

Microsoft is also working to push its hardware production out of China to other Asian countries. China has been its base of hardware manufacturing until now.

Google has asked a manufacturing partner in Thailand to prepare production lines for its smart home products. TikTok is also working to move its headquarters from China in order to distance itself from controversies.

It appears that China is gradually losing its position as the world’s leading electronics manufacturer, and India is positioning itself to be the next hub.

Following the development involving the arrest of the former acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the presidency has issued a statement explaining the situation.

The Special Assistant to the President on Media Matters, Garba Shehu, released a statement on Saturday, revealing that the former EFCC boss was caught up in gross financial misconduct that requires him to step down for due investigation to be carried out.

Read the statement below.

A series of documented allegations were made against the Ag. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Following a preliminary review of the allegations leveled against the Ag. Chairman and several other members of his staff, there were grounds for a detailed investigation to be conducted.

Hence, an investigative panel was constituted in compliance with the extant laws governing the convening of such a body.

As is the proper procedure, when allegations are made against the Chief Executive of an institution, and in this case an institution that ought to be seen as beyond reproach, the Chief Executive has to step down from his post and allow for a transparent & unhindered investigation

The EFCC does not revolve around the personality of an individual, and as such cannot be seen through the prism of any individual.

Therefore, the suspension of Mr. Ibrahim Magu, allows the institution to continue carrying out its mandate without the cloud of investigation hanging over its head.

The EFCC has many good, hardworking men and women who are committed to its ideal and ensuring that the wealth of our country is not plundered and wherein there is an act of misappropriation such person(s) are brought to justice.

Meanwhile, Mr. Magu is being availed the opportunity to defend himself and answer the allegations against him. This is how it should be, as is the fact that under the Laws of Nigeria every citizen is presumed and remains innocent until proven guilty.

We must realize that the fight against corruption is not a static event, but a dynamic and ever evolving process, in which the EFCC is just one actor, and as we continue to work towards improving our democratic process so shall every institution of ours also embark on that journey of evolution.

What is however important is that there must be accountability and transparency and our people must realize that they would be held to account.

This is the building block in the fight against corruption, the establishment of the concept of Accountability and the recognition of the Rule of Law.

Those who see Mr. Magu’s investigation, as a signal that the fight against corruption is failing, have unfortunately, missed the boat.

There is no better indication that the fight is real and active than the will to investigate allegations in an open and transparent manner against those who have been charged to be custodians of this very system.

Under this President and Government, this is our mantra and guiding principle. There are no sacred cows, and for those who think they have a halo over their heads, their days are also numbered.

Mr. Magu was not immune and regardless of the obvious embarrassment that potential acts of wrongdoing by him, given the office he held, may appear for the government.

No other administration in the history of Nigeria would have moved to bring into the light and public domain such an allegation.

Nigeria was thrown into confusion on Wednesday, 8th July, 2020, when the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, announced the suspension of the reopening of schools. The Minister further stated that Nigerian students will not participate in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) that was scheduled to start on 4th August and end on 5th September, 2020. Adamu Adamu passed the information to Nigerians after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on that day.

Nigerians were surprised about this sudden change in the reopening of schools because it came barely a week after that same federal government (FG) announced the approval for gradual schools resumption. The sudden u-turn of the FG made it look like there is no synergy between the different sectors of the government.

The sudden change in the decision of the FG to reopen schools not only disorganised schools administrators, students, parents and teachers, who were putting things in place for resumption, but also made it obvious that Nigerian students will miss the 2020 WASSCE. In fact, the Minister of Education revealed that Nigerian students will not be allowed to participate in the exam, claiming that WAEC is not in a position to determine when Nigerian schools will reopen. This is true anyway, considering that WAEC is just an exam body and not the FG.

But then, it seems that the FG did not consider the effect the suspension of school reopening will have on SS 3 students. This is because the Minister did not state whether the students, who have registered for 2020 WASSCE, will be refunded or allowed to defer their exams. However, it is obvious that these students will miss out in the exam because the Minister further said that it is better for Nigerian students to lose an academic year than to be exposed to the virus.

It may be easier for a Minister, who may not understand how difficult it is for many parents to raise the WASSCE registration fee, to freely imply that the money paid for the exam has gone down the drain. Even though the Minister meant well, it is still important that he feels the impact of his decision on the parties concerned. Hopefully, he understood the fact that Nigeria is not in a position to decide on when WASSCE will be written because Nigeria is just one of the five countries that participate in this exam.

Well, as Nigerians wait fervently for WAEC to react to the decision of the FG, it may be worthy to review situations that warranted the suspension of school reopening and the prevention of students from writing WASSCE.

The statement of the Minister of Education, which says that it is better for Nigerian students to repeat an academic session than to be exposed to the virus, was not made out of malice. In as much as this decision can cost Nigerian parents their hard earned money as well as deny the children a chance to sit for an exam they have prepared for, the Minister was not out of place with showing concern for the students. However, like most Nigerians have postulated, some of these children that we are talking about are already helping their parents to sell things in the open market. Their parents have also exposed themselves by going out and mingling with people. Remember that Edo and Ondo gubernatorial elections are on the way and these parents will still go out to vote. All I am trying to say here is that maybe these children would have learnt how to protect themselves from the virus.

Another good point raised by Nigerians regarding this issue is that social distancing has never been an issue with writing WAEC examinations because the exam body has already been practicing that before the pandemic. Remember that in setting up a hall for WAEC exam, a row does not contain more than six desks. I could remember that if a standard classroom is to be used as an exam hall, it should not contain more than 30 desks. So, there is no need to fear that the students will contract COVID-19 as a result of not practicing social distancing in the exam hall.

The only challenge I am seeing with the reopening of schools is that visitors will be allowed into school compounds and this could expose students, especially those in boarding schools, to the virus. This is where the school authority and the government will work hand in hand to provide those facilities that will help to check the spread of the virus. Maybe why FG is suspending reopening of schools is because the government has not provided those devices that government-owned schools will use. If that is the case, I think those in charge should come out and address the public properly rather than giving flimsy excuses about waiting till it is safe. So what if corona decides to stay with us for the next few years and the vaccine is not found, will our children continue to wait like this before they sit for WAEC?

All the same, if the FG remains adamant about stopping the students from sitting for WASSCE, it has to consider doing any of the following:

a. Ensuring that all the students that paid for the exam are refunded fully. This will then mean that students will wait and write only NECO and NABTEB, which are Nigerian owned exam bodies.

b. Making it optional for those that wouldn’t mind taking the risk of coming out to write the exam. I’m putting this here because I know a lot of good private schools that will ensure that all the guidelines given by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) were followed to the letter. It will, therefore, be unfair for these schools to miss out because government-owned schools are unprepared. So let government give chance for those that are ready to partake in the exam and those that cannot, will be refunded.

c. Liaising with WAEC to provide some of the needed equipment for checking COVID-19. Of course, I don’t see any reason why WAEC will not provide protective gears for their candidates and invigilators. Let it be their own contribution towards fighting the virus.

No one knows the decision WAEC will make soon concerning this suspension and other related issues. But we hope it will favour our children. However, the Minister of Education needs to go back and re-deliberate on how to keep our education system alive as we battle this monster.